Wrestling Champ Fights Diverticulitis Instead of Title Match

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar won't go down without a fight. But the kind of fight he's in isn't what you might expect. The mixed martial artist and professional wrestler has been forced to withdraw from the June 11 PPV heavyweight title fight against Junior Dos Santos, because he's suffering from a painful bout of diverticulitis. The illness occurs when one or more diverticula -- "small, bulging sacs or pouches of the inner lining of the intestine ... most often ... in the large intestine," according to PubMed -- become inflamed or infected. It's a chronic condition that can never really be cured and often leaves sufferers in serious pain.

I have loved ones who also suffer from diverticulitis, and although there are lifestyle tricks they can do to keep inflammation and infection at bay, it's a daily struggle.

Thirty-three-year-old Lesnar says he's had symptoms of this occurrence for "about three months" and he immediately went on a series of antibiotic treatments to fight the infection, but he still has pain in his abdomen and feels worn out to the point where it's too difficult to train. It's no wonder he had to withdraw from next month's fight.

Fans may be disappointed, but you know ... that's kinda too darn bad. When your health takes a turn for the worse, you have no choice but to look out for number one. Anyway, true fans should realize that Lesnar will be better off by taking the time off. He knows it, too, having told reporters on a UFC conference call:

It wouldn't be fair to myself or my family or to the people that I have to get in the Octagon to perform in front of because I wouldn't have been 100 percent on June 11 because I'm not there now. My health is No. 1, family is No. 1 and it was a hard decision. I'm choked up about [it] and there's nothing I can do.

But that doesn't mean that Lesnar is willing to just throw his hands up and let the condition undermine him completely. Even if he's not functioning at 100 percent right now, it sounds like he has an extremely healthy perspective on the temporary setback. His outlook seems bright ...

I'm not retiring. This isn't the end of my fight career. This is something that I believe, and I have strong faith, that there's a solution to every problem. I just have to find a solution to fix this problem. I love this sport and I love what I do. This isn't the end of Brock Lesnar. This is a speed bump in the road.

Here's hoping Lesnar is able to recover quickly and be back in fighting form ASAP.

What do you think about Lesnar's decision to prioritize his health over this fight?